Forgotten Past
by April Dawn Irene
Summary: When RJ recruits another ranger, life at Jungle Karma Pizza will be turned upside down. A reunion between old friends is inevitable, but things are never as simple as they may seem Casey/OC RJ/Lily Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Fading Hope

_**Author's Note:**_ This fic happens to be one of the longest projects that pikachucranstongirl and I have actually gotten written down so far. It was formerly titled The Pink Leopard's Call but then we realized that it didn't quite fit as well as the new title. We've been working together on storylines since we met, but only now have we actually found a fic where both of us are interested in writing at the same time... This is based off of DJ Rocca's **Nikutai no Kizuna** _The Ties That Bind _and we do have her permission to write and post this. Also you might want to keep in mind that we started writing this before we found out that Disney had indeed given Casey a last name. In this fic, we gave Casey the last name Lindhart. We would change it to what Disney has it as, but we like Lindhart better than Rhodes... We both hope you enjoy reading this and that you will review. Thank You!

_**Disclaimer: **_Neither I, my co-writer, nor our inspirations own Power Rangers or Super Sentai. We're all just average people with a lot of crazy ideas running through our deranged heads. It would be ridiculous to even try to sue anyone over a fanfic that makes us absolutely no money. We used several sources to help us write this.

_**Pairings mentioned are as follows: **_ Casey/OC, Lily/RJ _(If you can't stand OC's we beg you to give this fic a chance. We hate Mary Sues as much as the next person, or at least I do... I dunno about Pika... Just give it a chance. If you don't like it, just be glad we cannot charge you money to allow you to read this.)_

_**Forgotten Past**_

_Chapter 1: Fading Hope_

_**N**_ightfall rapidly approached the City of Ocean Bluff, a light pink tinge painting the western horizon. RJ let out a great big sigh, turning from the sight to focus on the waxing moon just to the northeast. Despite everything, Dai Shi was getting stronger at a much faster rate than the whole ranger team, himself included, could keep up with. They were starting to get drastic and RJ could only think of one former student of his that he would not only want to have on the team, but would also increase the probability of finally defeating Dai Shi and every evil entity they'd not been able to get rid of thus far. He'd already built the Pink Solar Morpher with _her_ in mind. He only hoped that she would accept his offer and that she would be accepted by the rest of the team. '_Maybe things will be more balanced around here._' he thought, his lips twisting slightly into a small smile. Things had certainly been stressful as of late and the entire team was experiencing the symptoms of the previously mentioned stress. Especially the red ranger, whom he had witnessed tossing and turning in his hammock on several occasions.

_**A**_t the same moment in time, two young women dressed in the customary, washed out blue and black Pai Zhuq uniforms lumbered into their shared room, dropping the books in their hands haphazardly onto their matching beds. The first, a young woman of Japanese descent, with long black hair held in a loose ponytail, opened the sole window to their room, sighing as a lukewarm breeze filtered into the sparsely decorated room.

"There, much better." she murmured; She let the soft breeze caress her lightly sun-kissed skin as she gracefully pulled the tie from her hair, letting her silky jet black locks cascade down her back. She stretched her arms out, stifling a yawn as she let herself fall back onto her bed.

"Don't you dare think about falling asleep on me, Jasmine. You promised you'd stay up with me and that we'd help each-other study. I don't want us to be the only ones who don't know what our animal spirits mean when it comes down to a romantic relationship." the second young woman looked plaintively at Jasmine, pulling at a lock of her own slightly curly golden locks. "C'mon, get up, Jaz." She said, standing and pulling at her roommate's hand.

Jet-black orbs snapped open to stare in annoyance at her companion before snorting as she sat up.

"Anna, it's one in a thousand chance that any of us will actually find our intended mate, let alone bond with them. I don't even know why they force us to learn this anyway." Jasmine stated with a sigh of exasperation as she opened a large tome to a page she'd marked towards the end of the book.

"Jazzy, I thought you'd care more, I mean, considering who your parents are..."

"Leave my parents out of this." Jasmine whispered softly. It was a command, not a request, despite the method of delivery.

"Okay..." Anna said, biting her lip. "I didn't mean to upset you... Let's just study already. I don't want to wind up in trouble with Master Brandison. What was it she said about the wolf?"

"She didn't say anything about the wolf. She avoided the entire portion." replied Jasmine as she smirked at the surprised expression of her friend.

"Oh, I must have been asleep!" Anna groaned, clasping her hand to her forehead.

"Day-dreaming is more like it. If only RJ was still here..." Jasmine mused. "I can just imagine the blush that would creep over his face on the section about the wolf spirit." She sighed forlornly as she thought back to her previous Master. Despite the fact that he was genuinely uncomfortable with the formal address of Master when most of the students weren't much younger than he was, RJ Finn had been a terrific Master to those few students he had taught while at the Academy. Jasmine had been one of them and she likened him to be the caring big brother she'd not had as a child. No, her Elder Brothers, the twins, were both inherently annoying and neat freaks to a fault. "Anyway..." Jasmine continued. "The Wolf Spirit is monogamous, taking only one mate with which they are bonded for life. A Wolf makes for a very protective, yet creative mate." The rest of the piece on the Wolf Spirit went into detail about it's compatibility with other Animal Spirits.

The silence that followed as Jasmine jotted the finer details in her notebook was penetrated by a snort emitting from Anna.

"One mate, yeah, right, in a perfect world maybe." the blond girl retorted. "We all know RJ's bonded to someone other than his first mate and you and I _know _who that is." Anna continued, rolling her eyes.

"True. You read the next part, Anna." Jasmine said with a yawn, not wanting to get Anna rilled up.

"Okay, that would be the Tiger... Um..." Anna began. _'Tiger...' _The thought flitted through her mind, bringing along with it a face as well as several memories attached to said face.

_**J**asmine remembered rather clearly the circumstances in which her Father had taken on his first student. It was a boy about the same age as her brothers, though he was nothing like they were. Whereas her brothers were pretty much your average Japanese eight year olds, this boy was different. He was what some people called a Gaijin, an outsider. Her mother knew his mother, and had offered to watch him while his parents were away for a few days, avoiding the need to pull him out of school and drag him along wherever they were going. _

_At first, Jasmine only stared at the boy, watching as he awkwardly interacted with her brothers. He was uncomfortable and judging from her brothers' reactions, he was a relatively new student at their school anyway. As strange as it was, she longed to touch his dark brown hair; To pet it as though he were some sort of pet cat. The first time she looked into his golden brown eyes, she knew that she never wanted him to leave. She immediately took to following him around, a rather easy feat as the skinny boy tended to enjoy her quiet company._

_He slept in her room that night as the boy had admitted to a fear of the dark, and she had a night-light, unlike her brothers who had never needed such a thing, nor would they keep a light on. She had later woken in the pitch black room to the sounds of her very scared roommate. He'd had a nightmare. When she'd called for her father, the boy had done something strange. He'd growled like a tiger cub at the presence of her father in fear as the light was turned on, revealing for a very short moment the face of the tiger overlaying his own. The boy had the animal spirit of the tiger. _

_When morning had arrived, Jasmine had come into the dining area to see her new companion sitting next to her father looking very nervous. Her father had a wide grin on his face. He was going to train the boy in the way of the Tiger. She doubted that the boy even remembered what had happened during the night, but now she had a nickname for him. Tora-chan. He was her Tiger. She never called him by anything other than Tora or when around anyone who might chide her for not using the proper address, Tora-chan._

_She had quickly learned that while her Tora-chan looked like a pushover, that he had a protective streak the size of Tokyo Tower. He would defend the younger kids in school and if anyone dared to threaten **her**, he was ready to throw a few well placed punches in retaliation. He always seemed to know exactly the right thing to say, be it a comforting word, or an insult to someone whom had done something to upset him._

_Her close friendship to him was only enforced by an incident when they had been on a school field trip to the zoo and had somehow managed to get separated from the rest of the group. She'd been terrified and while Tora had been on the verge of panic himself, he had gotten them safely back to their group. He had also been the reason that she had discovered her talent for healing. _

_One lazy Saturday afternoon they had been roller-blading in the park down the street from her home. She wasn't quite sure if it was the speed or if it was something else, but her Tora-chan had tripped over something, causing him to lose control and slam into an oak tree hard enough to knock several acorns down. He had fallen in a crumpled heap at the foot of tree, completely unconscious. She had fallen to her knees at his side in mere seconds, not caring that she scraped her knees on the rough tree roots as she eyed the large bump that was rapidly forming on his head. She had been terrified at first, that her Tora was going to leave her. In later years she would muse that the terrifying experience had been the main trigger for the faint pink glow that emitted from her hands as she had slightly touched near the bump on her Tora-chan's head and that he was the only person she could use it on with ease. Anyone else took intense concentration and even then that didn't guarantee success, even with the training she'd gotten from her mother._

_Their close-knit friendship lasted for three years, when he had abruptly moved away, out of Japan, and eventually out of her life forever. They had promised each-other that they would correspond through letters. Her Tora-chan wrote her a total of two letters and one postcard before they stopped coming completely. She sent a total of fifty letters before she truly gave up. Wherever her Tora-chan had ended up, he must have forgotten her completely._

"_**J**_asmine... Woohoo, Jasmine? Earth to Jasmine, come in Jasmine!" Jasmine was vaguely aware of a pair of arms waving in front of her face as she jumped slightly at the voice rousing her from her reverie.

"What?" Jasmine quirked an eyebrow at Anna.

"Jas, you totally spaced on me. You better not be having a Zen moment or else I'll kill you." Anna threatened, though her tone was light and joking.

"I was just thinking about something..." Jasmine muttered under her breath. "You wouldn't understand... What did you say while I was spacing out?" she asked, attempting to change the subject. Anna only rolled her eyes, not seeming to press the issue.

"I was reading about the Tiger..." Anna informed her, annoyance laced in her voice as she twirled a finger through a lock of her golden hair.

"Well... Would you mind reading it again, Anna?" she queried, her eyes pleading with Anna to do so. "Purdy-please with ice cream and bananas on top?" she let her lower lip slide up as she did her best attempt at a puppy-dog face.

"Fine, but you owe me, Jasmine Kandou." Anna said with a teasing glare at Jasmine. "Basically what it says here is that the Tiger is pretty much the feline equivalent of the Wolf, well except that while they usually mate for life, they are also known for being a key component in many Triads. Their protective instincts are increased tenfold if their mate is threatened by another. They can be downright possessive at times as well as infinitely passionate. They are quite open with showing their affection for their mate." Anna finished her summary of the short paragraph with a sigh. "You'd think they could make these texts more exciting or at the very least more specific. I mean jeez, what the hell are Tiger Spirits supposed to be so passionate about?"

Jasmine smirked at her clueless friend, a wild glint in her onyx eyes.

"They mean in bed, sexually... Just like the creative bit about the Wolf..." Jasmine explained, a dark blush rising up into her face. Even the Pai Zhuq weren't the type to be at all open about sexual matters.

"You're kidding. I never would have caught that." Anna said looking up from her books. "Jas, you have such a dirty mind.

"I'll tell you now that there are a heck of a lot of sexual references in a lot of our assigned reading. It takes a well trained mind to catch them, Anna." Jasmine said with a gasp at her friend's accusation. "And I do not have a dirty mind. I'll tell you who has a dirty mind, though. All those girls who started chasing after Master RJ the moment things fell through between him and Master Brandison. Granted they were older than us, but still it was enough to make RJ leave the Academy. I miss him you know. He was a good, understanding, caring Master, even if he was quirky enough to give my Father a run for his money in oddness."

"Yeah, it completely blows. I mean, he was quite possibly the coolest Master this Academy has seen in a long, long time." Anna agreed. "It really is a pity he left. It was refreshing seeing a Master hanging around who didn't have any gray hairs." The joking comment made Jasmine fall back, an intense bout of laughter overcoming her.

"I'll..." she giggled finally, her laughing fit coming to an end. "have to tell him that if I ever see him again." she said, grinning. "I'm sure he'll be glad to know you thought he was cool and that his youthful form was a refreshing sight for you."

"You ever tell him that and you will wish that you had never met me." Anna warned, though it was just a playful threat. "I would hate to see his face if someone ever did tell him. He'd probably blush like a little girl."

"Would not." Jasmine countered, narrowing her eyes defensively.

"You wanna bet on it?" Anna offered, pulling her wallet out from the end table drawer.

"I'm not betting against you on something so silly, Anna." A huge yawn escaped her soft pink lips. "We should probably study the rest in the morning or something. I'm getting really tired."

"Yeah, okay... I'm tired too. Might as well learn the stuff when we're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed." Anna murmured, carelessly shoving the books on her own bed to the floor before getting up to change into a white silky pair of pajamas. Jasmine was more careful, stacking her books on top of each other and setting them on the desk by their window before turning to get a pair of her own pink pajamas and going into their attached bathroom for a shower.

_**S**_he had taken a while in the shower. Long enough that Anna had already fallen asleep quite a while before Jasmine emerged from the bathroom, shutting off both the bathroom light and the light to their room, leaving only the small night-light she'd brought from home with her in the bathroom. As she walked to her bed she peered out the window. Just as she sat down on her bed, wishing upon a star, she jumped in shock at the sight before her.

"_Tora-chan"_ the words floated off her tongue as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The boy was gazing at her longingly, looking very lost and scared, much like he had the first day she'd met him, except he looked older. Much older, closer to the school photo he had included in his last letter to her. She still had that photo in a box that she kept hidden away. The boy appeared to bite his lip, his warm gaze unsure but also filled with something else. _'Love'_ Jasmine thought, watching him closely. He had smiled shyly when Jasmine realized the feelings he had been trying to convey. "I miss you, Tora-chan." she murmured, slowly getting into bed. When he came closer to her, she could see that his form was not solid and was more of a wispy spirit-like figure. As she laid down, Tora-chan knelt next to her bed, his hand lightly caressing her face as she fell asleep, gazing into his eyes until her eyelids finally became too heavy and all went black.

_**Author's Note: **_Thanks for reading, Both pikachucranstongirl and I pray that you will bless this fanfic with a review. It's roughly 4 and a half pages in OpenOffice so that's not bad for a first chapter. We have up to chapter 5 done (though we are in the editing process which we do ourselves rather than relying on a beta reader that might be even more unreliable than we are...) and are working hard on finishing chapter 6. Also, if you don't know what _Gaijin_ means; It is an old, once good, term that has become a derogatory term for Foreigners. Please Review. Our writing depends on the reviews we get!


	2. Chapter 2: Tiger's Confusion

_**Author's Note:**_ Again, like we said earlier, you might want to check out DJ Rocca's brilliant piece of work called **Nikutai no Kizuna** _The Ties That Bind _before you read this. We also do not have anyone to Beta this fic as of yet but we do try our best to keep our errors down to a minimum by re-reading it several times before we post.

_**Disclaimer:**_ Like it says in the Disclaimer for Chapter 1, we don't own Power Rangers, Super Sentai, or even a power ranger Halloween costume. I ChildOfDarkness1988, had a bar of Pink Ranger bath soap one time when I was really little, but that's about it. We don't even own any action figures. All we own is our computers and the thoughts that run through our deranged heads. Not much could come from suing us except perhaps our suffering but we suffer enough as it is.

_**The Pink Leopard's Call**_

_Chapter 2: Tiger's Confusion_

_**B**_ack in the loft above Jungle Karma Pizza, Casey Lindhart let out a great sigh, flopping down into his hammock. In his hands was a bundle of letters tied with a pink and red rose patterned ribbon. The letters were in thick, soft pink colored envelopes with a faint cherry blossom design on the lower right hand corner. In the top left hand corner he carefully eyed the clearly written Kanji of the sender.

"_Kan-dou, Ma-ri-ka" _he whispered the name, biting his lip in disappointment. As much as he wanted it to, saying the name out loud did not do anything to help him remember the face to which it belonged. He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, trying to scan what few memories of his childhood that he still vaguely remembered for any connection to the name.

He had opened a couple of the letters before, after he had gotten over the fear that they might be from someone who wished him harm . The word or rather the Kanji _Tora_ both alone and combined with the Japanese suffix _chan _had appeared quite often and he'd been compelled to Google the meaning years ago. It hadn't meant anything to him before now, but now that he was Pai Zhuq, he could only wonder what things could have been if he and his parents hadn't been in that horrible car accident when he'd been eleven. _Tora_ meant _Tiger_ in Japanese. Though the thought that somebody that he had known as a child, well enough for them to call him _Tora-chan_, had already known he had the spirit of the Tiger within was somehow disconcerting, and yet, Casey could only feel as though he was supposed to remember who it was. He was so tired of always drawing a blank whenever it came to things he wanted to remember from his past. He wanted to remember the sound of his parents' voices. He wanted to remember the trip to Disney World they had been on right before they had begun their drive up to visit his aunt and his sisters. Most of all, he wanted to remember things about himself that had been lost to him. He frowned at the letters, the Kanji blurring together as he realized just how tired he was.

"I'll deal with you _later_." he said, tucking them into his coat pocket which he then carefully folded to make a pillow and laid back, staring up at the dark sky through the loft windows, counting the stars. He hummed a slightly haunting tune he had no recollection of ever hearing before. As his eyelids began to feel droopy and he began to fall asleep, brief visions of a small Japanese girl with long black hair held in pink ponytails to either side of her head, grinning up at him filled his mind. _"Kanojo" _He murmured as he finally shut his eyes entirely, the haunting tune he'd been humming his own lullaby.

_**M**_orning had come and RJ Finn found himself in the very last place he'd ever considered returning to willingly; At least so long as a certain member of the female gender continued to teach there. However, he had no intention of going anywhere near the previously mentioned female. He was here to to visit his most favorite student that he'd had while teaching at the Academy and quite possibly convince her to join the rangers in their quest to defeat Dai Shi. He let out a great sigh as he was let past the school gates and allowed onto the main part of the Pai Zhuq Academy grounds.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't return at all." Came a strong, but friendly voice, causing RJ to jump in surprise. He whirled around to face the source.

"M-Isaiah!" RJ nearly had to force himself not to address the Jaguar Master as though _he _were still a student as he faced the much older Japanese-American man, a wolfish grin crossing his features.

"Please tell me you've decided to return to teaching _here_. We need you back."

"No-can-do, Isaiah. I'm not sure if anyone has informed you but the students Master Mao chose to guard Dai Shi are my responsibility now." RJ explained, knowing there was a good chance that Isaiah truly didn't know. The man only smiled grimly in response. "In fact, that's one factor in why I'm here." he continued. "I need to speak with Jasmine." He said, letting the seriousness of the matter seep into his entire being. He couldn't even bring himself to smile now that he'd let the 'cat out of the bag' so to speak.

"I will take you to her then..." Isaiah stated, nodding in understanding. He began to walk at a brisk pace, with RJ just a step behind. Not a single word was shared between the two. Where under less important circumstances they likely would have had shared a pot of tea first, while talking about trivial things, they knew they had little time to do so. As soon as they made it to the door of the room Jasmine resided in, Isaiah left the Wolf Master to do what he needed to do.

_**R**_J found himself staring at the door, a sudden bout of nerves overcoming him. He had left in such a rush after certain events that he hadn't even taken the time to inform his young students of his departure. She had found out though and had run after him, only to be stopped at the gates as he walked away. He sighed deeply, resting a closed fist on the door before gathering up the courage he needed to knock lightly on the door.

He jumped at the sudden slow opening of the door. He hadn't heard a single sound before. He supposed it was because the particular students who resided in the room he stood at were both rather well trained in their feline animal spirits. One onyx eye peered out between damp jet-black hair and the door before the door swung wide open.

"RJ!" the petite Japanese young woman cried out happily, launching herself at her former Master, embracing him in a hug as though he were her favorite family member.

"Hey, Jasmine..." he managed to utter. The petite girl was much stronger than she looked or even gave herself credit for. "How are you?" he asked, pulling away just enough to get a good look at her. She looked okay, maybe a little tired, possibly even a bit stressed. He wasn't surprised at any of that.

"I've been okay..." She murmured, giving him one last squeeze before the hug awkwardly ended with her looking embarrassed at her reaction to his sudden presence. "How about you?" she asked, gesturing for him to come inside. She sat on the edge of her bed, while he took the chair at the desk nearby.

"Well, I've been better, but I've also been much worse, so I can't really complain. It would be bad Karma to do so." he explained. "And I need all the good Karma that I can get right now." He said with a forced grin. He was sure she could sense if not see the effects of his recent activities.

"It's because of Dai Shi, isn't it?" the question wasn't so much a question as it was a reassurance that she understood. After all, he had been the first person she'd told of her parents' struggles with a similar evil force.

"Yeah, it is. I take it you know about the Power Rangers then." RJ said as he clenched his jaw, hoping that he wouldn't have to launch himself into a huge explanation. He hated explaining things as complicated as his situation had become.

"Well, I only know of one person with the wolf spirit this side of the Pacific Ocean. Of course I already came to the conclusion that you were somehow connected to the rangers in Ocean Bluff. I mean, that's where you went isn't it. Last I heard you opened some sort of Pizza parlor. We're not as stupid as we sometimes look, RJ..." Jasmine said, stifling a giggle. RJ let out a breath he'd been holding as she had answered.

"Well I suppose I won't have to explain much then, will I? And yeah, I do own and run a Pizza Parlor. It's called Jungle Karma Pizza. You should go the next time you're able; My treat." he replied, finally relaxing. "I can't believe anyone would think I'd doubt the intelligence of my students." he added with a chuckle.

"Unlike one Master I know who happens to be very unhappy with you, by the way. She might not be saying anything aloud but Master Brandison has been treating all of _us _with much less kindness than she did before you left. I've heard her mutter a few times about you as well. Something about you finding someone else... I'm happy for you. It's Anna's sister isn't it? I mean, we heard rumors about Dai Shi possessing Jarrod and... Well, I know Lily is the yellow ranger and it doesn't take a genius to figure it out if you pay enough attention to the little details that make up the whole picture."

"How did you figure that out? I only ever told Master King." RJ snapped defensively.

"Relax. Master King has kept his mouth shut the entire time. You seem much happier than when you were here. Besides, I saw it coming a mile away."

"What? How?" RJ looked at his former student quizzically.

"I never liked Jarrod much, you know. He was a bit of a bully. Reminded me a lot of my _brothers _and the way they treated an old friend of mine and I when I was but a little girl. As for Lily... I knew she wasn't really happy with Jarrod. She needed someone with more to offer her than the bare minimum that Jarrod could give."

"Jasmine..." RJ warned, not wanting to discuss Jarrod any further.

"Okay, fine, I give!" Jasmine held up her hands in defeat. "Anyway, what brings you all the way here? Shouldn't you be off with your rangers?" she asked, changing the subject. RJ gulped; This was the moment of truth. He couldn't lie to her. Jasmine, had always been too perceptive for her own good.

"I want you to be the Pink Ranger." he said slowly.

"No." Jasmine answered stiffly. "I refuse. I have no desire to become a Ranger." RJ's heart felt as though it had dropped past his stomach and into some part of his lower bowels.

"You're the only one qualified." RJ tried to convince her.

"Oh don't you start with that Baloney, RJ. Don't you think I know your Red Ranger is just some random first year who hadn't even been here long enough for most of the Masters to even bother learning his name?" She shot back, glaring at the Wolf Master with an intensity that unnerved him. The Leopard was dangerously close to the surface.

"That was Master Mao's decision." RJ stated bluntly, as though it were the simplest answer in the world. "_I_ want you to be the Pink Ranger." he hoped that admitting to his high opinion of her would help get her to agree to it.

"No, RJ." She sounded upset. "You think I don't know the code of the colors? My mother and father were Sentai Warriors as well as Beast Spirit Users when they were just barely older than I am. Red and Pink are supposed to be together. You should choose someone else for the job. I lost my other half long ago, RJ." she murmured, her gaze falling to the fine fuzz balls on the washed out blue bed-cover. "I can only hope I find him again one day, but so far, that doesn't seem like it will ever happen. I won't settle for second best."

RJ quirked an eyebrow as a curious sound escaped his throat.

"You know who your..." He fell silent. It was rare for anyone to find their one true mate, the one that would not only be compatible spirit-wise, but also in a normal relationship. It was even rarer for one to know who it was long before one came of age within the Pai Zhuq. He gulped, feeling somewhat intimidated. Jasmine was, after all, the daughter of two very well known Beast Arts Users, and even before she had been born, become Masters of their respective Arts. The Pai Zhuq recognized the Beast Arts Users as brethren, though the fact was not commonly known amongst the students.

"I was six when I met him. He was in my brothers' class in school, though he couldn't have been any more different from the double annoyances than night and day. Last I heard of Tora-chan..." She laughed at herself for using the childish name that had pretty much replaced his given name in her mind. "He was to be visiting his Aunt and his Sisters for the rest of the summer after going to Disney World. I was nine, he was eleven, RJ. Distance pulled him away from me, and I don't even know where to start looking."

"Tora-chan? That was your pet name for him?" RJ laughed, recognizing the meaning. "He was a Tiger then?"

"Yeah. Discovered that little detail the first night he spent the night and had a nightmare after the night-light went out. My father trained him at every opportunity after that. He is why I must refuse, RJ. I'm sorry, but I have to refuse. I can't surround myself with another Tiger spirit. I've lost _him _as well as my father. I won't let myself attach to another Tiger." She looked at him, her words desperate. She had never gotten over either loss, that much was clear to RJ.

"I'm not asking you to bond with my Red Ranger, Jasmine. He's just a cub. He barely understands the most basic elements of the Pai Zhuq. I doubt he'll be coming into maturity, spirit-wise anyway, for quite some time." RJ tried to explain.

"He's really a cub, then?" Jasmine looked at RJ but then held her head in her hands with a heavy sigh. "Fine. I'll do it, but..." She bit her lip nervously. "I hope you don't have a problem with my night-light."

"Not at all. I sleep in the bedroom Lily and I share. Though, you might have an issue with my red. He sleeps in the main section of the loft and well, you'll probably sleep in Lily's old spot in the corner..."

"No problem. I can deal with that." Jasmine was a bit surprised at the odd living arrangements as RJ had barely touched upon them and yet had made them seem more confusing than things back home in Japan.

_**R**_J had helped her pack what few things she possessed. She had gone through her keepsake box, carefully pulling out the pictures of the boy she had been convinced from a young age that he was the one she would one day marry. Even her father had realized the meaning of their close-knit friendship early on and had encouraged it to blossom and flower. He had known that the Tiger Cub would not, could not hurt her. Her parents had tried in vain to convince Tora-chan's parents to let him stay in Japan with them, but they had insisted on leaving for their home-country. A tear slipped down her cheek as she recalled the excruciatingly painful departure. The Tiger-boy's parents had to wrestle his slight frame into the cab that would take them to the airport. Tora had been kicking and screaming as he had tried to get out of his parent's firm grasp to stay in Japan. He had even held to the concrete of the sidewalk by the road so hard that his fingers had bled when he was finally pulled into the cab. It was only because of the control that her father had taught her friend, her other half, that the Tiger within did not come to the surface and completely wreck everything.

"Is that him?" RJ asked, the question shaking her from her reverie.

"Yeah, right before he moved away."

"From the way you spoke I guessed he was Japanese." RJ muttered in surprise, taking in the sight of the obviously non-Japanese boy in the old picture.

"He wasn't born in Japan, but that is not what matters. He spoke Japanese better than my brothers ever did. Believe it or not, he preferred it over English. He was very young when his parents had brought him to Japan with them. He was well trained in the way of the Tiger when he left. I've always wondered what happened to him. I haven't felt whole since he completely disappeared from my life. Even just the letters we wrote gave me peace.

"Well, maybe after we beat Dai Shi and all the other beings he considers part of his regime, you and I can try to find him." RJ suggested. He had always sensed that Jasmine was not content even when she seemed completely happy to anyone who didn't recognize the signs.

"I accept your offer on your word as a Master that you will not disregard it when the time comes to realize it." Jasmine said softly, smiling at the prospect of one day reuniting with her Tora-chan.

"You have it." RJ promised. They had a long walk ahead of them. With any luck they could make it to Jungle Karma Pizza before the lunch rush.

_**Author's Note:**_ Heya hope you liked that! Thanks to all those who have reviewed. Remember, reviews make scatterbrained authors like us sit down and write. Flames make us upset and cry. Now we'll go back to drooling over pictures of Casey and thinking about how we can make his life more... _interesting_!


	3. Chapter 3: Revelations

_**Disclaimer:**_ Oh jeez... You gotta be joking! Don't you get it? Are you too dense to understand that we don't own Power Rangers. See we're just a couple of deranged and psychotic chicks who have nothing better to do with their time but write about their lifelong obsessions. We don't make any money from writing and posting this. If we did, believe me, we'd probably buy the Power Ranger's franchise and turn it into something much more than it is.

**_Author's Note:_** Okay here's chappy 3... We were surprised at how quickly chappy 2 got reviews! Anyway we'll try not to torture you any longer...

_**T**_he sun was nearing it's highest point in the sky when Jasmine and RJ finally made it to Jungle Karma Pizza. RJ sighed, realizing that the other rangers must have been worried. After all, he had not even informed Lily of his decision that they needed a Pink Ranger on the team. They were all likely to be worried about him as he had only told Lily that he had to speak with one of the Masters at the school in the wee hours of the morning. He had not told her that he had planned on walking the entire way, nor had he told her he had planned to stay well past Breakfast and well into Brunch.

Theo and Lily stood at the cash register giving RJ a glare that would and could kill if looks alone were actually capable of killing. RJ wasn't aware of any such looks that could actually kill. No, one needed weapons for that.

"RJ, where the hell have you been?!" Lily was the first to ask, sounding completely irritated. "I thought you went to the school for an early meeting with the other masters."

"Lily, Theo, relax. You both already know Jasmine. She's our new Pink Ranger." RJ explained, seeming as though he were the epitome of calm.

"No way are you letting my _baby sister _fight with us! " Theo sneered, glaring at Jasmine. "Not only do we not get along well enough to even work together, but I'm not about to be responsible for _her_!"

This made Lily snap her shocked stare to Theo.

"Jasmine's your sister? You don't even share the same last name. I thought you only had a brother." She asked, her anger towards RJ completely forgotten in the revelation.

"I changed my name when I moved from Japan to live with my Aunt and Uncle after I got in trouble because Jasmine here and her little friend were a pair of bratty tattle-tales." Even RJ looked surprised.

"What did you do that was so bad you had to leave your family in Japan?" Dominic came out from the kitchen asking the question as though we were a part of the conversation.

"That's none of your business." Theo said with a meaningful glare at the Rhino Ranger. He looked ruffled at the question as though it were some sort of attack on his pride.

"Well you don't have to get all... like_ that_!" Dominic retorted. "It was just an innocent question."

"Luan and Theo had gone into our parents room and completely turned it into a pigsty and then tried to blame it on me and a friend of mine that had come over. Living with our Aunt and Uncle in the US was supposed to be a punishment." Jasmine explained. She had no problem with ruining her brother's perfectionist reputation.

It was at that exact moment that Jasmine saw the door at the top of the stairs leading up to what she assumed was the infamous loft RJ had told her about open. A few moments later a a cry of "What the!" and the sound of a human body tumbling down the stairs was followed by the sight of whom she could only assume was the Red Ranger.

The entire rest of the team looked in the Red Rangers direction, surprised.

"At this rate I'm going to end up dead before I'm old enough to drink." the young man muttered under his breath as he pulled himself up, wincing. "Whoever had a banana this morning had better learn to use a trash can." he grumbled, glaring at Dominic.

All Jasmine could do was stare at the young man. For a moment it seemed as though she could almost see her long-lost friend in him. It didn't help that his Tiger spirit _seemed _familiar and yet completely different from what she remembered. She had to remind herself that RJ had confirmed the rumor that the Red Ranger was merely a cub. She shook the thought from her head. Her Tora-chan couldn't be this, this _cub_, especially not after he'd trained so hard with her father.

The cub stared back at her, a perplexed expression on his face. What someone untrained in the ways of the Pai Zhuq and the Beast Arts would take as a purely sexual observation of one's body, Jasmine knew the cub was assessing her, attempting to pinpoint if she was a threat or not. He looked to RJ as if silently questioning the Wolf Master of his intentions.

"Who's she?" he asked.

"My _baby _sister. Don't let her appearance fool you. She's more annoying than the Rin Shi, if anything." Theo volunteered the explanation. "I bet she _still _sleeps with her night-light on."

"Taro, you'd better shut your mouth before you wind up on the wrong side of my fist. You may be my elder brother, but you're still a fool when it comes to picking fights."

"Jasmine is going to be our Pink Ranger." RJ announced, attempting to end the argument before Theo had a chance to make things worse. He smiled expectantly at Casey, raising both eyebrows at the Red Ranger.

Casey looked somewhat taken aback but quickly recovered from the shock of the announcement. If RJ thought she was good enough for the team, then he'd go with whatever the Wolf Master said, so long as she didn't muck anything up.

"Oh... Welcome to the team then... I guess..." He said distractedly, holding out a hand. "I'm Casey." he introduced himself to her with a smile.

_**T**_he moment they shook hands Casey had to force himself not to completely freak out.

_'I know her... But where from?' _He thought. Her touch left his hand tingling slightly and the haunting tune he'd fallen asleep to began again in his mind, bringing with it the short glimpses of the little girl he'd convinced himself long ago, was just his imagination playing tricks on him. He blinked rapidly, trying to sort out the things rushing to the forefront of his mind as the handshake ended. He gulped nervously.

"I uh, need to go pee... See ya!" He dashed up the stairs, leaping over the banana peel that had caused his earlier fall.

"That was..." Jasmine began, trying to find a word to describe the meeting.

"Weird, I know, but Casey's like that a lot." Lily admitted. "Especially lately. The other night I swear I caught him staring at some letters as though they were from another planet. I don't think he noticed I was there because he started humming this weird song before he fell asleep."

"Tell me about it. Sometimes I think he's dyslexic." Theo added "You should have seen him the last time we went to get groceries. He was staring at the Nutrition labels like they were written in Greek or something." Jasmine made a mental note to keep an eye on the Red Ranger.

_**A **_week soon passed and Jasmine found herself becoming quite comfortable in her role as the Pink Ranger, along with being part of what RJ called _The Pack_. The only downside was that she had to put up with Theo, but she easily countered any verbal attack with great precision. All she had to do was mention their Mother, Uncle Gou, or their Father to shut his Blue Ranger butt up.

She had just ended her closing duties with Fran and had come upstairs, ready to let her hair down and relax with a good book, or better yet, a good solo training session. She had quietly made her way into the dark loft. RJ, Theo, Lily, as well as Dominic had gone out for a movie while the Red Ranger had declined their offer of going, opting to stay in the loft in hopes of catching a rerun of The Simpsons that he hadn't had a chance to watch yet, or rather, that was the explanation he'd given. Jasmine was shocked when she found him in his hammock, staring at a large bundle of letters tied in ribbon with a frustrated glare.

He had sighed heavily as she inched closer, maneuvering behind him to get a better look at the letters. She had to hold her hand to her mouth to keep from gasping in shock when she saw the addresses written in Kanji and English. She felt her chest tightening as she remembered the way she had sung her favorite Japanese Folksong while carefully writing the addresses. She remembered the way that she would kiss the envelope as though the cherry scented Lip gloss were her own personal seal. She remembered having stocked up on the special paper and envelopes, using her hard earned, and carefully spent money to purchase it.

"Tora-chan?!" she whispered. The Red Ranger jumped, falling out of the hammock with a dull thud. His head snapped to look at her, he had been scared by her whisper, she quickly realized as his erratic breathing slowly calmed.

"What?!" he asked, widening his golden brown eyes even further in surprise.. He sounded shocked to hear the name spoken.

"Nevermind..." Jasmine murmured. "You know someone who lives in Japan?" she asked, gesturing to the return address on the letters, clearly written in Japanese.

"I... I don't know..." He slumped his shoulders. "All I know is the name reads, Kandou, Ma-ri-ka." This time Jasmine did not hold back her gasp. This changed everything.

"Casey, do you know what Ma-ri-ka is translated to English?" she asked. Her Tora-chan had known quite well what it translated to. She was disappointed to see that Casey shook his head negatively.

"No... I don't..." Casey admitted, looking and sounding sad to admit it.

"It means Jasmine." she explained. "I don't know how you got those letters, Casey, but there's only one boy in the world that I could ever see possessing them..." She began as tears started to well up in her eyes. "But you can't be him because he would have never needed to come to the Pai Zhuq Academy as a mere cub. He would know what those letters said and even more importantly, he'd..." Casey let out a low growl, cutting off her emotionally charged rant.

"Don't go around assuming that people cannot change drastically over the course of several years." Casey said, the words sounding foreign coming from his mouth. "My cub has been through a lot."

Jasmine gasped, looking into the glowing eyes of the Tiger. Inside she was torn between horror and a unbridled joy that made her eyes light up. She had found her other half, though he was not as he had been. He didn't even _know _her. The Tiger spoke again.

"He is not ready for what he does not know." it said simply, implying there was more to it. She raised an eyebrow.

"And why not?" she asked, realizing that the Tiger had _something _to do with her Tora-chan's abrupt lack of correspondence all those years ago.

"He was, is hurt. He needed, needs more time to heal before all is revealed." The Tiger narrowed it's, Casey's eyes at her.

"I would think remembering me would be better than him not remembering me." Jasmine bit back incisively.

"He would not be able to handle remembering you, remembering what you were, are to him." The Tiger said with a growl.

"What am I to him?" she did not break eye contact with the Tiger's eyes. She could feel the Leopard on the surface, wanting to handle the questioning on her own. Jasmine would not let that happen.

"You are the one who makes him feel at peace. Your touch, the sound of your voice, your scent, make him realize that he might not be as crazy as certain people in his life have made him feel. This is not the first time he has taken out the letters after your arrival, I promise you that."

"But I _love_ him. Is that so wrong that you cannot let him remember so that he can love me back like he did before? What the hell happened for you to take that away from him?" She was in tears now. The Tiger obviously had taken liberties with it's influence over it's channeler. The Tiger chuckled.

"Dry your tears, Leopard cub. It is for my cub to tell you, should he ever get over his shame, not I. You may tell him of things before, but do not expect him to remember. He remembers little as is." The Tiger murmured. "I bid you good luck in convincing him to trust you enough though. Even the Wolf Master does not know." Those happened to be the Tiger's last words before the cat-like irises were gone and Casey's eyes returned to their normal golden brown color. Casey blinked several times, looking around confused before realizing where he was at, and who he was with. A faint blush crept up his face, residing in his cheeks.

_**A/N:**_ We suck, don't we? The mere idea that we would do such a short chapter and with such a cliffhanger. But yeah, this is all we're giving ya! Aren't we such meanie-heads? Muahahahahahaha! ^hack/cough^ Ahem, sorry about that... Anyways, read and review, or we'll turn you into goo! Not! Oh and we're dead set on having RJ and Lily together, so if you don't like it, then simply ignore those portions of the story (of which there are none so far) or don't read at all...


	4. Chapter 4: Faint Memories

Disclaimer: Seriously, if we owned Power Rangers, the Actors who play the Power Rangers, or anything else aside from our computers and video games... We would probably not spend our time writing fan fiction because we'd be very busy spending time with the Actors of PR... Particularly Jason Smith, David de Lautour (Or however you spell his name, darn it!) Jason David Frank and quite a few others whom Pika and I think are completely hot and must be worshiped. LOL!

Authors' Note: Seriously, we never meant to leave this chapter for so long. Happy Reading!

Forgotten Past

Chapter Four: Faint Memories

_**J**_asmine had to quickly dab at her eyes and cheeks to erase the traces of her tears, though ones of happiness threatened to make her efforts meaningless. It was _him_! Casey was her _Tora-chan_. The happy thought vibrated through her. _'Part of him remembers...'_ she thought, watching Casey as he tried to recover from the confusion she was sure had been caused by the Tiger spirit's sudden take-over of his body.

He was staring at her, a questioning look in his eyes.

"You're her." he stated, not explaining who he thought she was supposed to be. She took in a deep breath, catching a faint whiff of chocolate and mint combined with a hint of cinnamon. She nearly choked on her own breath as she realized that she had to have somehow convinced herself that she would never find _him _for her to not have noticed his scent this entire time.

"You remember me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. She regretted asking the question as soon as it had left her mouth. Casey had immediately dropped his gaze to the floor, shame clearly written in his body language.

"Only a little..." he mumbled in response. Jasmine could only wonder just how much '_a little'_ was where his memories of her were concerned.

It was, however, rather comforting to know that he remembered her at any rate and that whatever tidbit he did remember was enough to compel him to keep the letters she had religiously sent him. She sat down next to him on the floor, resisting the powerful urge within to hug him, perhaps even kiss him. She knew that it could, and likely would, take a very long while before whatever they had _now_ could be compared to what they'd _had_ back then.

It was like he had become a completely different person and yet still retained some of the things that she had adored most of all. His scent was one of those things, along with the way he styled his hair. His being a ranger was proof enough that other aspects of his personality were still intact. She had heard exactly what had caused Jarrod to be kicked out. She smiled. She hadn't completely lost her _Tora-chan _ after all.

"You think you could tell me what you do remember?" She asked after an awkward silence had passed. He looked up at her, his chocolate eyes wide with surprise.

"I..." He began, biting his lip as he looked off into the distance. She was sure that he wasn't looking at anything in particular. He took in a deep breath before continuing. "Sometimes, late at night, I would always see this little girl..."

"Like a ghost?" she queried in an attempt to get him to clarify.

"No, not like a ghost... At least not most of the time... Like, I'd see a picture of her, I mean your face in my mind... But yeah, there were a few times she was like a ghost." He stumbled through the explanation.

"Oh." Jasmine replied with a smile. Casey only shook his head.

"I was in a car accident when I was eleven." Casey began nervously. "I don't remember much before that or even the accident. I've been playing catch-up ever since it seems..." He was biting his lower lip again and Jasmine had to hold herself back from chiding him about it.

"What do you mean, playing catch-up?" Jasmine wondered if the accident had left him with some sort of lingering injury that needed therapy to overcome.

"Well, in school for the most part." Casey awkwardly explained. Jasmine could only feel that he wasn't telling her the whole truth, but had no time to respond as Theo came in, loudly groaning about how bad his experience at the Movies had been.

_**T**_heo hadn't had a very good evening. No, in fact, from the moment he, RJ, Lily, Dominic, and Fran had left Jungle Karma Pizza, life had taken a turn for the worst. The first bad thing to happen was when the lady at the ticket stand had accused him of having a fake ID, claiming there was no way in hell that _he_ could be eighteen years old. After he'd finally proven to her that he was indeed old enough to see the movie he and the others had chosen ahead of time, they'd gone to get snacks at the concession stand where it had taken forever for the Concession Stand person to total up the snacks and drinks he and the others had gotten. He hadn't even been able to get his favorite candy and drink. Then when he had sat down, he had stepped in something gooey, and then switched his seat only to find that not only had he sat down on someone's freshly chewed gum, but someone much taller than he was, had sat right in front of him, blocking his view of the movie. No, Theo was not a very happy person right now and the rest of his friend's cheerful attitudes did not help him at all. All he wanted to do was come back to the loft, change into something not sticky, and get to bed. He wasn't at all expecting to find his sister and Casey sitting on the floor together. That had been the last straw.

"What the heck is going on around here?" Theo nearly screamed the words. If his voice hadn't been slightly hoarse from yelling at the Ticket lady and later groaning about the gum on his pants and the guy sitting in front of him, he would have actually screamed them. From his point of view, it looked like they were up to something, and Theo didn't even want to think of what _that_ could be because then he'd wind up unable to sleep.

Casey's head had snapped up to look at Theo, startled at the blue ranger's tone of voice.

"What's your problem?" Casey had asked, completely flummoxed

"Life is my problem. You still haven't explained _why_ you're sitting on the floor with my _baby sister_!" Theo snapped at the Red Ranger, causing Casey to flinch slightly.

"We were just talking, Theo. Why should you even care. It's not like you were even around when I might have needed you." Jasmine cut in. "Besides, it's not a crime to talk. Maybe you should go meditate or something. You're filling the whole loft with your negative vibes." Jasmine had to stifle a chuckle at her own impression of RJ.

"You know, Theo, Jasmine is right. You could definitely use some quality meditation right now considering tonight's events." RJ added. "Besides we can always buy or rent the movie on video when it comes out."

"That's not the point." Theo glared at the Wolf Master. "I just want to know why Casey and Jasmine were on the floor practically in each-other's laps."

"We weren't in each-other's laps!" Casey cried in outrage, jumping to his feet, his face reddening in anger. "We were just talking. That's all. Just a normal conversation between two people who just so happen to live above a pizza parlor."

"That's not what it looked like to me." Theo countered, taking a step in Casey's direction.

"You know what, I'm tired of all your bickering. I'm going to take a shower." Jasmine said, rolling her eyes at her brother. Theo glared at Casey with even more intensity when Jasmine left the room, stepping closer till he was in the Red Ranger's face.

"My sister is off limits. If I ever so much as catch you with her alone like that again, I won't hesitate to make you pay." Theo seethed, staring into Casey's eyes. He was secretly thrilled to see the fear written in Casey's wide-eyed stare.

"Theo, I think that's... quite enough!" RJ exclaimed at the Blue Ranger's threat.

"_**I**_ wasn't..." Casey began, his voice weak the moment Theo turned away, but already Theo was ignoring him, leaving for his own _private_ space. RJ, Lilly, and Dominic all looked at each-other before giving Casey a apologetic look.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that, Casey." RJ said finally as Casey had begun to turn away and lie down in his hammock.

"Yeah, he was out of bounds." Lily added. "Theo's just being, you know, _Theo_."

"Yeah, just think of all the ways you can get back at him..." Dominic joked, but the reassuring words from the three weren't all that reassuring to Casey. No, in fact, the fact remained that Theo, for some reason was accusing him of doing _dirty_ things with Jasmine, and telling him to stay away. It was hurtful and enraging at the same time, that Theo would accuse him of such things.

"Thanks you guys but somehow I don't think he'll be rushing to apologize to me in the morning or anything. He meant what he said and that alone scares me. I'm just going to go to bed now and try to sleep." He sat, then laid down in the hammock, turning away from the eyes of the three rangers that were still trained on him.

"Do you want one of us to stay here to make sure Theo doesn't do anything stupid?" Lily asked, wondering if Theo's threat had actually scared Casey.

"No, I'll be fine. You guys just go to bed." he mumbled, snuggling his head into his makeshift pillow.

"Sleep well, then." RJ said as he and Lily reluctantly went to their room.

"Yeah Dude, sleep well." As soon as Dominic, RJ, and Lily were gone, Casey closed his eyes, wishing himself off to the land of sleep, Feebly pushing from his mind the thought of Theo's words.

_**E**_ventually, Casey did fall asleep because when his eyes snapped open and he shot up to a sitting position, Jasmine was safely sleeping in her corner of the loft and all was silent. He shuddered, his mind racing. His dreams had been far from pleasant, enough so that he was momentarily tempted to see if RJ was awake but pushed the thought from his mind as soon as he reminded himself that he did not want _anyone_ to know about _that_. He shivered at the thought of what RJ and the others might say if they knew.. _'I thought I'd gotten over it until tonight.'_ He reminded himself with a glare up at the dark cloudy sky above.

He decided after a bit of thinking, that he needed to take a walk. Being couped up in the Loft was not helping the panic that flitted through his mind, making his heartbeat race out of control. He grabbed his Jacket, glad that he hadn't changed out of his regular clothes that night, and quietly left the loft and Jungle Karma Pizza, briskly walking through the heavy rain, hands shoved into his pockets.

_**J**_asmine awoke with a start, her mind and heart both telling her that something was not right. Her dark eyes scanned over the rest of the loft, not seeing exactly what was wrong. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down for the sakes of the others. She didn't want to wind up waking anyone else if there was truly nothing wrong. That was when she realized she didn't smell _him_. Casey's scent was all but gone from the room and when she glanced in the direction of his Hammock, she found it empty. Realizing that it had to have been a few hours since Casey was last in the loft for his scent to have dissipated as much as it had, she began to panic.

_**C**_asey grumbled to himself, wishing he'd at the very least brought a hat or had a jacket with a hood. His hair was soaked, laying flat against his skull and the rest of him wasn't much better. His shoes made a sloshing sound every time he took a step and his jeans stuck to his legs. Despite having a local Monster Population, Ocean Bluff was relatively dead at three in the morning. He took cover underneath the cloth canopy that normally covered fresh vegetables and fruits from the harsh sun and sighed. 'Some walk this has turned out to be...' He thought, watching as the wind blew a ton of leaves from the trees of the nearby park. It almost seemed to howl in his ears as he walked onwards.

_**R**_J had been very content, holding Lily in his arms as his mind was caught somewhere between the bliss of sleep and the wakeful world. Lily was the one who had roused him from such a blissfully unaware state of mind. Someone was knocking at the door to their room with an urgency that RJ hoped wasn't having anything to do with Dai Shi. He got up, pulled on his purple bathrobe and tied it securely before he went to the door.

He opened the door, to see a very alarmed Jasmine.

"What's going on?" He asked tiredly, scratching his chin.

"Casey's missing." Jasmine stated, her voice relaying the panic she felt but did not show in her body language.

"What?" RJ blinked in surprise and looked to the hammock Casey usually slept in, only to see it empty.

"Are you sure he's not in the bathroom?" Lily had gotten up too.

"I'm sure. I even checked everywhere downstairs. He's not here. He's left and it's raining cats and dogs outside." Jasmine explained. "As far as I can tell he's been gone for quite some time already."

"Okay, you go wake up Theo and Dom, and we'll change. We can all meet downstairs."

_**C**_asey continued on walking, not even pausing to reconsider heading back once he'd made it to the edge of where the City ended, and the Forest began. He smirked as he realized that once he'd started walking through the forest, that the rain and wind had calmed down, letting the moon peek through the clouds to give him some light in the thinner areas of the forest. He almost felt as if the fabled Man in the Moon were smiling upon him as he found a fallen log in a small clearing that was surprisingly dry and sat down. With the moon smiling down upon him, he took a deep breath and pushed away the feelings of panic he'd felt before and began to seriously think about what both Jasmine and Theo had said.

_**L**_ily had already gotten dressed and had woken a deeply sleeping Dominic with a glass of ice cold water before she even noticed Casey's red jacket that RJ had given him on their first day as rangers, hung over an end table nearby. She blinked, praying that she was just seeing things but then realized that no, it was really his jacket. She ran to it, curious to see if Casey might have forgotten to take his Morpher with him. She wasn't disappointed when she found the Morpher in one of it's many pockets.

"Looks like Casey left his Morpher!" she called out to the others who were still getting dressed or gathering up flashlights.

"Great, Casey just takes off in the middle of the night without telling anyone where he's going and doesn't bother to take his Morpher... If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was suicidal or something, not just a stupid cub!" Theo groaned as RJ emerged from the garage with four flashlights.

"Lets go find our errant delivery boy!" RJ suggested as he passed the Flashlights to Lily, Theo, and Jasmine. "Lily, Theo, you'll go west. Jasmine and I can go east, and Dominic, you stay here and watch for any abnormal activity." He instructed them, pulling on his own Jacket before he and the others went their specified ways.

_**A**_ loud screech penetrated the surreal silence that had fallen upon the heavily forested area Casey now sat in the middle of; the loud sound causing him to jump in his seat, very narrowly avoiding a fall to the damp ground. A chill passed through him, forcing him to open his eyes, which he'd closed in deep thought. He'd nearly fallen asleep. He blinked before looking around, suddenly aware just how creepy the forest was at night. A low growl reached his ears and he had to force himself to breathe properly.

"W-Who's there?" He called into the dark forest, trying to see where the noise had come from, but had no such luck. The moon was hiding behind the dark clouds and Casey suddenly felt very lost. He idly wondered if his tiger-spirit could help him find his way out of the woods with so very little light. Suddenly he thought he heard someone talking, though it was not in English. Whoever was talking was getting closer, and fast. Casey dashed behind a huge fallen log and watched as those who had spoken came to the small clearing.

IT was all he could do to keep from gasping in shock as his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness for him to make out any details of the beings that were making their way closer to his location.

"No way..." he whispered. "I thought we got rid of them." He immediately regretted whispering the words because the three Overlords turned in his direction.

Grizzaka came closer and closer, sniffing the air.

"Tora?!" The grizzly bear Overlord said, his tone one of confusion. The other two gasping speaking again in what Casey barely recognized as Japanese. He shoved his hands into his pockets for his morpher. '_Shit' _he thought, finding his pockets empty. Panic overrode his thoughts. The Overlords or whomever they were , were dangerously close and it didn't help that they were obviously just as on guard as he was.

_'Of all the times I could have left without my morpher, I chose tonight... Yeah, Casey, that was a smart move.'_ He looked around for some sort of an escape route but found none except for going deeper into the woods behind him. He looked back to the Overlords and realized that Carnisoar had disappeared. He nearly jumped at the sound of someone, or something behind him.

He dared to turn his head, to face whomever, or whatever was behind him. Just as he was about to turn, something blunt and hard collided with the back of his head and he felt a sharp pain before all went black.

A/N2: Ooh aren't we evil? We never meant to leave you guys hanging for so long but I (COD1988) got distracted and forgot that I was supposed to title and post this chapter till like months later.


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